SALT Trailer Review

If Pepper Potts and Evelyn Salt got into a fight, who would take that crown?

Salt, is the brand new or re-used story idea, starring Angelina Jolie. Before I begin the open heart surgery on this trailer, let me say that overall it feels like a big kid screaming at me; ( in annoying child taunting talk) "I have a secret and I won't tell you!!!". That shit is annoying. We get it, there is a possible twist somewhere in this movie. Way to give away the one thing you might have going for you!

The beginning of the trailer starts off with Ms. Jolie being hauled off by cops, a quick action sequence later and we are at yet another question; " You think everyone is who they say they are?" Well no, if your asking. There are so many questions in this movie trailer that I get the feeling that's what I'll be left with at the end of the movie. Questions.

The next few scenes look like episodes of the TNT show The Closer as we are informed by Liev Schreiber's character that no one can crack people faster in a room, than Salt. Angelina plays the title character: Evelyn Salt. A C.I.A agent who is "revealed" to be a Russian assassin set to kill the President of the United States. So... as any normal American would do, she goes rogue, jumps off a few expressways, turns herself into a Maxim model and attempts to prove her innocence, all in this rom-com of an action/spy thriller.

Its really a shame that nothing in this trailer looks original. There are hints of Mission Impossible 3 with her pulling a fake face off, walking along the edges of buildings and close shot chase sequences bring back memories of The Bourne Movies and the fact that she might be potentially framed for killing an important political figure is straight from the movie Shooter, with Mark Wahlberg. I cringe at the what future taglines of this movie might be. "Salt is the new Bourne!" or "Its Mission Impossible meets Bourne with a Shooter mixed in."

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of action and spy movies, but from the trailer it just doesn't look like there is anything that sets it apart from the mentioned movies. The supporting cast consists of some top gents, who are always at the top of their game; Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Schreiber was recently seen in the disappointing X-Men Origins: Wolverine in which he played Wolverine's nemesis Sabertooth. Ejiofor has played memorable villains in Four Brothers and the sci-fi action pic Serenity.

I really like both these actors and after doing research on the movie I found out that the original incarnation of the script had the main character as a man. Beat! Perhaps Salt is really a man? It might have been more cliche but if the original script was the one being shot, how would Liev or Chiwetel faired as the agent with a questionable identity? I think both of them are of the caliber of actors to bring something new to a role like that, if done correctly. Much like what Matt Damon did with Jason Bourne.

The movie is directed by Phillip Noyce whose past work includes The Bone Collector (urg!) which also starred Angelina Jolie. Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger both starring Harrison Ford and both are notable films is the Jack Ryan series. So its clear that Mr. Noyce is no stranger to the spy game, but why does this movies look like SPAM. I wonder how the tone would have been if the trailer had more of a Jack Ryan feel.

The movie is written by Kurt Wimmer and I would say he is the only reason I'm curious about this movie. I was first exposed to Kurt Wimmer with a movie he wrote and directed called Equilibrium, that starred Christian Bale. AMAZING shit! Go out and find it now, if you haven't seen it. His next writing credits included The Recruit, Ultraviolet, The Thomas Crown Affair, and most recently Law Abiding Citizen, which starred Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler. Each of these movies, except for perhaps Ultraviolet, were really good, watchable thrillers. The Thomas Crown Affair and Law Abiding Citizen especially. So its obvious the guy knows how to write, so I'm hoping that's what saves this trailer.

Aside from me picking apart this trailer, I do plan to see what its all about. Despite being overly cliche the trailer does do a good job of establishing tension, suspicion, and action. But as a fan of Kurt Wimmer in particular, I hope that he's thrown something in here that makes it worth my time at the movies.

Salt hits theaters July 23, 2010

Dueces!
StuntmanBob

Brooklyn's Finest Trailer Review

Welcome back Wesley Snipes!

Brooklyn's Finest is out March 5th 2010 and is directed by Antonie Fuqua, whose past works include Training Day, King Arthur, and Shooter. Fuqua to me has made some very solid and watchable movies. Training Day alone should lead to you believe that as cliche as the stories lines in this trailer look, nothing is what it seems with this material in the hands of this director.

The cast for this movie is top notch and everybody seems to fit perfectly into their respective roles. Personally I've been on a little bit of an Ethan Hawke-high. Having watched Daybreakers, Gattaca, and his performance as a smooth talking, sexually open writer in the film compilation New York, I Love You, has made me realize how much I like him as an actor. The reality and intensity he brings to his characters, is one of the reasons I look forward to seeing this movie. Don Cheadle and Richard Gere fill the card as tortured cops counting the days till they are released from the duties, respectively. But I feel the real story here is....Wesley Snipes. I REALLY like him in this trailer. I got flashbacks of movies like New Jack City and Sugar Hill. I hope this is the movie that brings him back to doing Hollywood films and not just straight to dvd releases. Although they were entertaining, the Blade movies were bringing him down and I'm happy they didn't continue them any further. The dichotomy between Wesley Snipes' gangster character and Don Cheadle remind me of a another good cop drama called In Too Deep. The story of an undercover cop struggling to keep his eye on catching the bad guy, but struggles when he's "in too deep" and becomes the closest and most trusted person to this bad guy. I suggest if you haven't seen that movie to check it out. But you can tell from the trailer that the relationship is doomed as Don Cheadle struggles to decide which side he's really on.

So many cop movies have come out and are coming out, your probably asking what makes this one so different and why am I praising this one in particular? It's all in the execution. When I first watched this trailer I was immediately reminded of another cop drama called Pride and Glory, which starred Edward Norton and Colin Farrell, as two brothers who get wrapped up in an investigation that hits close to home. The actions that took place in the movie, mostly the violence, just seemed real unecessary and actually overshadowed the character drama that was supposed to be, I'm assuming, the main focus of the movie. The same could also be said about the movie Max Payne, with Mark Wahlberg, whose over use of in-camera slow motion was only the real decent thing to watch in that entire movie.

There are a lot of things in this trailer that we've seen before. Normally the adding of a song like Jay-Z's "Run this Town" and the prayer to St. Michael that Ethan Hawke's character recites would bother me cause they are in some instances really tacky. But in the execution of the trailer, they don't seem to overshadow the characters or single out just one of them. I could believe that Wesley's gangster persona and Ethan's desperate cop, even though they may have different story lines in the movie, could say that same prayer every day of their lives. So in that one feature we are given a deeper sense of the characters, their motives, and what they could or are going through. Which makes for a successful trailer all around for me.



Box office Prediction- 20 million

Dueces!
Bobby